In recent years, several mainland Chinese banks have presented “withdrawal difficulties” and “unexpected account freezes,” causing concerns among the public. A recent investigation revealed that many Shenzhen bank branches are experiencing an influx of Hong Kong residents lining up to withdraw money. Banks have raised the difficulty level for cash withdrawals to discourage large withdrawals. An economist’s analysis suggests that the problem may not be limited to individual banks but could be related to the banking system’s bad debts.
Difficult for Hong Kong Residents to Withdraw Cash
A Radio Free Asia investigation found that the Shenzhen branches of the Bank of China, Construction Bank, and Industrial and Commercial Bank have long queues due to the arduous process of cash withdrawal. Some Hongkongers who tried to withdraw 60,000 RMB had to queue for hours before entering the bank and then wait again for 1 to 2 hours for a teller to process their transactions. Both the regular and VIP counters had only one bank staff member processing cash transactions, causing delays. Even after reaching the counter, tellers repeatedly asked for the reason for the withdrawals, checked multiple documents, required multiple signatures, and entered passwords multiple times. The entire process took about five hours.The wait time is even longer for large cash withdrawals in mainland Chinese banks. According to Radio Free Asia’s investigation, the Bank of China now requires a minimum of one-day advance notice for withdrawals above 200,000 RMB (US$27,839). Different branches have varying requirements, with some even raising the withdrawal threshold, requiring personal appointments for withdrawals above 20,000 RMB (US$2,783) to be made on specific days.
